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Playstation 3 Development Underway
At least in the United Kingdom, developers are already being handed development hardware for Sony's next-gen platform in anticipation of its debut at E3. From the article: "Sony plans to show the next-generation PlayStation off in public for the first time at its pre-E3 conference in Los Angeles in May, where it will almost certainly debut within a few hours of the public unveilings of Nintendo's Revolution and Microsoft's next-gen Xbox."
I wonder at what point next-gen consoles will begin to not create the positive hype that seems to currently surround them. I'm not a huge console gamer, but at some point people will no longer be willing to shell out the money to move to the newest console until a time when the price of the console has dropped well below its initial levels. Even in the PC world, the percentage of people that will rush out to pick up the newest video card seems to be dropping. There isn't quite the anticipation that there once was.
but I just bought it five minutes ago...
Is it me or does it seem consoles are coming out faster than linux distribution upgrades?
It seems to me that if game companies spent more time on developing the games rather than bringing out a new console model every year they might reap more profit. Or maybe just concentrate on an upgradeable model.
Quality Hosting e3 Servers
What's with all of this Playstation stuff? I've still got my NES.
Okay. Who can port NetBSD to the 'development hardware' first?
People jump to upgrade graphics cards based on the games they want to play. Several notable games have caused huge surges in card sales.
With PC games in general waning in popularity, and with current cheap cards being able to play the top games well enough, it's no wonder people aren't jumping to buy the latest and greatest all the time.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Playstation 3 - IBM Processor.
X-Box Next - IBM Processor.
Nintendo Revolution - IBM Processor.
Is anyone noticing a pattern here?
(plays old Mario song in agreement) I don't really like 3D games as much either*. There are many more secrets in many 2D games**. Maybe it's because I get ADD and don't like a simple linear storyline. Or because it's harder to add regions to a 3D world that'd effectively hide said secrets. Or something.
Obviously, teh 3D looks better though.
*besides the Final Fantasies and Starfoxes of the gaming world. And perhaps Half-Life 2. But not Counter-Strike as much.
**there's a lot in both FF7 and 10, from what I remember.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
Sony's next-gen consoles don't have stupid names?
When did Microsoft ship out the PowerPC-based Xbox 2 (or whatever its called) dev kits?
from TFA:
"they're more advanced than the PowerMac kits [Microsoft] has given us [for Xenon] - they're still prototypes, but they're closer to what'll be in the final console... The graphics chip isn't there, say, but we can get a pretty good idea by taking an NVIDIA 6800 and saying, okay, it'll be like this but faster."
This seems a far cry from what Sony was promising us just after the release of the PS2... I can't seem to find the old press release but i remember them talking about integrating some kind of organic or biomechanical components into the processor and that the spare cycles from net-connected PS3's not in use would be available as some kind of grid computing enhancement. Way to deliver, Sony!!!
This comment is fully compliant with RFC 527.
This is going to be the most interesting E3 ever, or I'll never fall for the hype again, damit.
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
With the launch slated to happen within the next year or two, I don't think "already" is the correct choice of word. Hell, considering what development times are now, I'd almost say they're a bit late.
Playstation is a stupid name. It is just harder to see when it's been around 10 years.
It is probably about time to see the new machines revealed and hyped, but I expect the next generation to last longer than this one did. The PS2 and GC and XBOX (at least to my knowledge, well maybe they XBOX...) weren't at the cutting edge of game technology when they were introduced, this time around they will be (Cell processors etc.). IT at least gives me hope for a longer system life next time around.
On a side note it is interesting that the newest of the consoles, the XBOX is the one quickest to jump on the new hardware train.
Lets face it the PS2 was one of the hardest and thus most expencive products to program for in the video game space for a while. Xbox was the esiest while the GC came in somewhere in-between. Unless the Cell trifecta have come up with a brilliant way to make it easy to complie and program for cell we will be seeing videogames selling for atleast 10 dollars over current price, plus the cost of the additional eye candy. Thats right I could see a high end PS3 game selling for 70 dollars because of the Cell and of course since distributers like to keep prices equal across platforms you will see xbox 2 and Revoltion prices going up. Microsoft and Nintendo atleast understand that people have to program for these platforms. Sony however thinks its the platform that sells and flooding the market with a bunch of games is the key. Nintendo's method is to give you a traditional platform and a vary high quality of select games. Microsoft gives you a snapshot of current gaming hardware and makes it so the programers and artists are in charge. While Sony won against 3DO with their swamp the market with lots of games. We saw that the PS2 did not fare so well and lost market share percent. It looks like Sony is set to tourture the devlopers again with their PS3, and if so Microsft may vary well win this round. Heck even Nintendo may be able to overtake Sony with how many developers they have been bleeding over the years.
The same was true of Xbox1. It basically has an early Geforce4 in it (weaker than what eventually was released as a Geforce4 on PC, IIRC). This was released while the PC market was still making due with the cutting-edge Geforce3. Nevermind how many years it was before PC games were really written for that level of hardware...
But yeah, early footage of next-gen console games (like Heavenly Sword) destroys any coming game I've seen for the PC. Unreal3 engine tech is impressive, but I want to see games with release dates. That Heavenly Sword footage shows the kind of graphics the consoles are getting this year (and it will probably look even better, since that footage is of the game more than a year age).
And a lot of the "high end PC games look better than console games always" argument is silly anyway when you look at the games. Panzer Dragoon Orta, Phantom Dust, Amped 2, Team Ninja's games, etc. all look just as good (and arguably better if you don't hold resolution to be the most important visual factor) than the best looking PC games. Writing to a unchanging dedicated gaming platform gives amazing performance benefits.
Even if you want to argue that some PC game does look better than Panzer Dragoon Orta or GT4 (aesthetic tastes certainly vary), you probably won't find one in most of the genres that the consoles provide. Where are the beautiful PC fighting games? 3D action games (a la Ninja Gaiden and God of War)? Platformers (Ratchet & Clank)? Rail shooters (Rez, Panzer Dragoon Orta)? Etc.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
I dont agree with you. In this market the consoles themselves are heavily underpriced. The producors take that loss, expecting to make money from the games (or royalties for the games). You get the newest console for a very nice price - and the games are priced about the same as for your old (less powerful) console.
In the PC-world you pay full price for your newest graphics adapter.
I'd say the gaming console market is very upgrade-friendly for consumers, compared to most other consumer electronic markets!
Apple - IBM Processor
Wish I had IBM stock right about now.
shure they all custom versions based on powerpc core. ;-)
powerpc everwere
all these peaple dont want to realize how lame therre x86 base computers reaslly are.
so they all talk about the name of the console...
never under estamate the power of stuped peaple.
there the majority.... example (intel,bush,microsoft)
to look back at the history.
and all the new consoles and name changes atari came up with was confusing the general public...
i cant wait for a ps7 with a ibm powerpc ???? with 23 cores of the 128-bit-verson-powerpc manufacuted on 30nm process...
they can use any powerpc based system for a dev kit,(gamecube,powermac,pegasus,xbox2) there would just be a variance in performance on which kit they picked. but its probably a dual-power5 server p5-510 cost $5000
A friend of mine who is involved in the development process confirmed that SONY and IBM are absolutely serious with their plans to have the CELL processor in anything from DVD players to supercomputers and that it will run a modified version of Linux that is completely open source. He does not tell me anything new that's not already in the news but he keeps emphasizing these facts.